Vietnamese Timed Text Style Guide

*This document covers the language specific requirements for Vietnamese. Please make sure to also review the General Requirements Section for comprehensive guidelines surrounding Timed Text deliveries to Netflix.

Speaker’s title: only translate the title. Do not include the speaker’s name, company name or character name as these are redundant.

Only translate a speaker’s title once, the first time the speaker appears in the documentary.

When ongoing dialogue is interrupted by a speaker’s title, use ellipses at the end of the sentence in the subtitle that precedes it and at the beginning of the sentence in the subtitle that follows it.

Dialogue in TV/Movie clips should only be subtitled if plot-pertinent and if the rights have been granted.

Avoid going back and forth between italicized and non-italicized subtitles when the speaker is on and off screen in a documentary. If the speaker is on-camera for at least part of the scene, do not italicize. Leave italics for off-screen narrators.

6. Dual Speakers

Use a hyphen followed by a space to indicate two speakers in one subtitle, with a maximum of one speaker per line.

- Xin chào thanh tra. - Chào cô hiệu trưởng.

7. Font information

Font style: Arial as a generic placeholder for proportional SansSerif

Font size: relative to video resolution and ability to fit 42 characters across the screen

Font color: White

8. On-screen Text

Forced narrative titles for on-screen text should only be included if plot-pertinent.

When on-screen text and dialogue overlap, precedence should be given to the most plot-pertinent message. Avoid over truncating or severely reducing reading speed in order to include both dialogue and on-screen text.

The duration of the FN subtitle should as much as possible mimic the duration of the on-screen text, except for cases where reading speed and/or surrounding dialogue takes precedence.

Forced narratives that are redundant (e.g., identical to onscreen text or covered in the dialogue) must be deleted.

Forced narratives for on-screen text should be in ALL CAPS, except for long passages of on screen text (e.g. prologue or epilogue), which should use sentence case to improve readability.

Never combine Forced Narratives with dialogue subtitles.

If at all possible, try to avoid interrupting a line of dialogue with a forced narrative.

When a forced narrative interrupts dialogue, use an ellipsis at the end of the sentence that precedes it and at the beginning of the one that follows it.

9. Foreign Dialogue

Foreign dialogue should only be translated if the viewer was meant to understand it (i.e., if it was subtitled in the original version).

When using foreign words, always verify spelling, accents and punctuation, if applicable.

Foreign words should be italicized, unless they have become part of regular usage (e.g., in English, the following no longer need to be italicized: bon appétit, rendezvous, doppelgänger, zeitgeist, persona non grata) and unless they are proper names (e.g., a company name).

10. Italics

Italicize the following:

Album, book, film and program titles (use quotes for song titles)

Foreign words (unless they are part of regular usage)

Dialogue that is heard through electronic media, such as a phone, television, or computer

Only use italics when the speaker is not in the scene(s), not merely off screen or off camera

Song lyrics (if rights have been granted)

Voice-overs

Do not use italics to indicate emphasis on specific words.

11. Line Treatment

Maximum two lines.

12. Numbers

From 1 to 10, numbers should be written out: một, hai, ba, etc.

Above 10, numbers should be written numerically: 11, 12, 13, etc.

When a number begins a sentence, it should always be spelled out.

Note that the above rules may be broken due to space limitations or reading speed concerns, as well as for consistency when listing multiple quantities, for example.

Measurements should be converted to the metric system, unless the original unit of measurement is plot relevant.

Punctuation should be included within the quotation marks if the quote is an independent clause and outside if it’s not.

14. Reading Speed

Adult programs: 17 characters per second

Children’s programs: 13 characters per second

15. Repetitions

Do not translate words or phrases repeated more than once by the same speaker.

If the repeated word or phrase is said twice in a row, time subtitle to the audio but translate only once.

16. Songs

Only subtitle plot-pertinent songs if the rights have been granted.

Opening and ending theme songs should only be subtitled if clearly plot-pertinent (e.g. for children’s content when the lyrics tell a story) or if instructed by Netflix. Normally, adult programs should not have the opening songs subtitled, except for SDH.

Italicize lyrics.

Use an uppercase letter at the beginning of each line.

Use ellipses when a song continues in the background, but is no longer subtitled to give precedence to dialogue.

Punctuation: only question marks and exclamation marks should be used at the end of a line – no commas or periods. Commas can be used within the lyric line, if necessary.

17. Titles

Main titles: do not subtitle the on-screen main title card.

Episode titles: do not subtitle episode titles if they do not appear on screen/are not voiced-over. If on-screen (either as part of the principal photography or burned into video) or voiced-over, please reference the KNP tool for approved translations.

Titles of published works, existing movies and TV shows: use official or well-known translations. If none are available, leave titles in the original language.

18. Special Instructions

All plot-pertinent dialogue should be subtitled, and takes precedence over background dialogue.

Dialogue (including expletives) should be rendered as faithfully as possible, without using dialect or words that would otherwise introduce a level of obscenity not implied in the content.

Deliberate misspellings and mispronunciations should not be reproduced in the translation unless plot-pertinent.

20. Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SDH) Guidelines

Include as much of the original content as possible.

Do not simplify or water down the original dialogue.

Reading speed can be increased to:

Adult programs: 20 characters per second

Children’s programs: 17 characters per second

Truncating the original dialogue should be limited to instances where reading speed and synchronicity to the audio are an issue.

For TV/Movie clips, all audible lines should be transcribed, if possible. If the audio interferes with dialogue, please give precedence to most plot-pertinent content.

All same-language audible songs that do not interfere with dialogue should be titled, if the rights have been granted.

Use song title identifiers when applicable - song titles should be in quotes:["Forever Your Girl" playing]

Song lyrics should be enclosed with a music note (♪) at the beginning and the end of each subtitle.

Use brackets [ ] to enclose speaker IDs or sound effects.

Identifiers/sound effects should be all lowercase, except for proper nouns.

Only use speaker IDs or sound effects when they cannot be visually identified.

When a speaker ID is required for a character who has yet to be identified by name, use [man] or [woman], or [male voice] or [female voice], so as not to provide information that is not yet present in the narrative.

Use a generic ID to indicate and describe ambient music (e.g., rock music playing over a stereo).

Sound effects should be plot-pertinent.

Sound effects that interrupt dialogue should be treated as follows:

Subtitle 1: However, lately, I've been... [coughs, sniffs]

Subtitle 2: ...seeing a lot more of this.

Never italicize speaker IDs or sound effects, even when the spoken information is italicized, such as in a voice-over:

[narrator] Once upon a time, there was…

In instances of foreign dialogue being spoken:

If foreign dialogue is translated, use [in language], for example [in Spanish]

If foreign dialogue is not meant to be understood, use [speaking language], for example [speaking Spanish]

Always research the language being spoken – [speaking foreign language] should never be used